Michael Wheatley, 55, today received his 14th life sentence following the raid on the Chelsea building society in Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey

This is the moment notorious armed robber the Skull Cracker pulled a gun on terrified staff inside a building society while on the run from an open prison.

Michael Wheatley, 55, raided the Chelsea building society in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, during the recent high profile nationwide police hunt for him.

CCTV footage shows the criminal pointing his gun directly at a member of staff. He went on to steal £18,350.

Ironically, staff had been briefed the day before that they could be at risk because Wheatley was on the loose.

After pleading guilty at Guildford Crown Court today to robbery, possessing a firearm and being unlawfully at large, Wheatley was given his 14th life sentence.

He was told he must serve at least ten years behind bars for pulling a gun on staff

He was already serving 13 life terms for violent raids on banks and other building societies when he walked out of cushy Standford Hill prison, Kent, while on day release.

His disappearance sparked outrage because he had previously absconded while in jail for robbery.

Wheatley earned his nickname for using blunt weapons to attack witnesses who stood in his way - including a 73-year-old woman.

He was recaptured five days after the Sunbury-on-Thames raid in Tower Hamlets, East London.

Judge Christopher Critchlow told him: “You have a long history of violent offending by robbery, from when you were only 14 or 15.

Kent News

Michael Wheatley

“Then you started to commit offences with firearms.”

Prosecutor Dale Sullivan told the court Wheatley entered the building society in Sunbury-on-Thames and was invited into an office by deputy manager Christopher Gurdev.

Mr Sullivan said: “His story was he had just returned from Ireland, having been there for 20 years and that his name was Mr Harris.

“It looked as if he was about to leave, before the defendant said: ‘One more thing’ and pulled out a handgun and pointed it directly at Mr Gurdev’s head.”

Mr Sullivan said he forced him to open a coded door to the secure area where he made staff hand him money.

The court heard he fled with the money but was trapped because he left behind a newspaper with his fingerprints on it.

Mr Sullivan said: “The importance of the location is this branch was robbed by this defendant some 13 years ago, albeit it was in the premises next door.

“The manager had briefed the staff the night before and showed them pictures of him, owing to the media coverage of him failing to return to HMP Standford Hill.”

Wheatley received 13 life sentences at the Old Bailey in 2002 for raiding 13 banks and building societies over the course of 10 months in 2001 and 2002.

Having heard details of his life of violent crime, Judge Critchlow added: “That you should go out and deliberately choose to rob a building society where you have previously been suggests a grave risk to the public from offences of this nature if you are ever to be released.

“It is clear the public should be protected from you for a long time.”

Wheatley’s co-accused, Kevin Perry, 53, also appeared via a videolink, in a separate hearing.

He is charged with assisting an offender, perverting the course of justice and handling stolen goods, relating to allegedly disposing of a hat and a jacket and of having £2,050 pounds stolen from the building society.